Various types of bottles have been used to permit persons to carry water or other liquids for drinking. In particular, such bottles are typically used by persons involved in sports, or other physical activities, to provide a ready supply of liquid whereby the users may be kept hydrated during performance of these activities. Desirable features of such bottles include:
sufficient durability to withstand repeated use and automatic dishwasher conditions;
features that permit users to view the contents of the bottle to thereby ascertain the type of liquid or volume of liquid in the bottle;
features that permit the bottle to be sealed tightly, in a permanent leak-proof manner, and to easily re-open the bottle when it is desired to consume the liquid;
features that allow users to carry the bottle, on their person or secured to carried articles, without interfering with activities performed by the user;
features that permit users to maintain liquids stored in the bottle at chilled temperatures; and
features that make drinking directly from the bottle easy and comfortable.
While many different types of drinking containers are available, conventional drinking containers do not generally incorporate all, or selected groups of the features described above. For example, bottles which are opaque do not provide a visual indication of the quantity or type of liquid which is contained in the bottle and do not permit users to measure the volume of liquid contained within the bottle. The ability to measure the volume of liquid in a bottle is helpful when the user desires to mix ingredients in the liquid to be consumed (such as in a “power drink”) or when it is desired to keep track of the volume of liquid consumed. On the other hand, many transparent, disposable bottles are not sufficiently durable to accommodate repeated use. Likewise, with a durable bottle designed to last for years, maintenance of a permanently leak-proof seal must be achieved without the use of rubber or silicone sealing gaskets that tend to harbor molds and deteriorate with time.
Many users prefer chilled drinks, but it is typically difficult to maintain liquid stored in conventional bottles at cool temperatures during activities such as hiking, cycling, or other activities where the bottle must be carried by the user, or in instances where the user is away from a cooler or refrigerator. To exacerbate the problem, many conventional water bottles do not have a sufficiently large opening to make placing ice cubes in the bottle easy. Accordingly, users must either break up the ice prior to placing it in the bottle or freeze the contents of the bottle. Freezing the contents of the bottle is disadvantageous because the user cannot consume the liquid until the frozen contents have melted.
Another drawback of conventional drinking bottles which utilize screw caps is that the threaded neck of the bottle interferes with the lips of the user, making drinking directly from the bottle uncomfortable or difficult. Yet another drawback of many conventional drinking bottles is that they are not generally provided with features which facilitate carrying the bottle by a user without interfering with the activity being performed.
There is thus a need for an improved drinking bottle which overcomes drawbacks of the prior art, such as those described above.